Travel Apps Redefine Last-Minute Trips

Travelers are now using apps to book last-minute trips to destinations like Hawaii.

Travelers are now using apps to book last-minute trips to destinations like Hawaii.

For many people booking last-minute travel means reserving a week—or, for the truly daring, a few days—before hitting the road. But Tim Lamar takes the idea a little more literally. In fact, on a recent trip to Chicago, he booked his hotel room while idling in his car outside the property.

Lamar reserved the room with his iPhone, using a discount site to score a rate nearly 50 percent below what he was quoted by the hotel. The Prairie Village, Kan., documentary filmmaker says he used to dread eleventh-hour arrangements ("You just knew it was going to cost you," he says), but since he started relying on his phone, he's booked on the fly half a dozen times. "The risk is far outweighed by the reward," Lamar says.